CHAPTER 2 STUDY GUIDE- Chelsea Ng

Summary of the Chapter:
Who would have thought that Jean Louise Finch’s first day of school would be such a rough start? In Chapter 2 of “To Kill A Mockingbird”, the chapter begins with Dill leaving back home to Meridian while the summer ends for Jem & Scout. Since it is the first day of school, something Scout has been anticipating for long, Jem takes her with him. Even though he is a great brother, typical older siblings will refuse to let their younger siblings embarrass them and in the same way, Jem explains to Scout that things in school will be different in school than at home and that he wouldn’t want his first-grade sibling to come up to him to mention about the activities he does at home or mortify him in any sort of way. As soon as Scout enters the class, she meets her class teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, a 21 year old who comes from North Alabama. The class was brilliant; everyone knew what was written on the board, as half of the children are starting first grade for the second time, but Scout surprised Miss Caroline by reading perfectly. Instead of congratulating Scout, however, Miss Caroline isn’t pleased that Scout was literate as she believes Atticus, an unprofessional teacher, must be the person who is teaching Scout “incorrectly”. Scout feels guilty for being regarding what happened. To comfort Scout, Jem concludes during break that Miss Caroline is teaching the class using the Dewey Decimal System, a new method. Miss Caroline, terrible at handling children, unappreciatively tells Scout to stop writing in cursive when she caught her writing a letter to Dill, as she believes cursive is only used starting from the third grade. Towards the end of the chapter, Miss Caroline’s lack of ability in controlling children heightened. When Miss Caroline Miss Caroline realizes that Walter Cunningham does not have his lunch with him, she warm-heartedly lends him a quarter, but he rejects as he was a Cunningham, and the Cunninghams won’t take anything from anybody even if they were poor. Scout then tells Miss Caroline that she is embarrassing Walter by trying to lend money that he will not be able to pay back. Hearing this remark, rage soon filled her, and she calls Scout up to the front of the class where she hits her hand with a ruler and tells her to stand in the corner. Scout is left in humiliation as the class laughs at her, but was saved when the bell rings. Miss Caroline is overwhelmed, and Scout sees her put her hands over her desk on the table. The chapter ends with a description of how Scout does not feel sorry for her teacher, as she considered her teacher’s approach towards her was unfriendly.

Setting:
Chapter 2 takes place in Maycomb’s public school.

Key Element-Event:

1. What sort of atmosphere is evoked? Which words or phrases help to create this atmosphere?

-When Scout was scolded by Miss Caroline for being able to read, for being able to write in cursive, and finally for telling her about how she is humiliating Walter Cunningham, she got hit on the hand and was punished; Scout was asked to stand facing the corner. An atmosphere of tension and humiliation was created, and the tone of the passage was loud. A “storm of laughter” “broke loose”, “The first grade exploded again”, all of these words relate to a thundering and roaring noise; auditory imagery used by Harper Lee to create a sense of chaos yet embarrassment for Scout. Harper Lee then added Miss Blount to the chapter, and she says “If I hear another sound from this room, I’ll burn up everybody in it. Miss Caroline, the sixth grade cannot concentrate on the pyramids for all this racket!”(22). This line parallels to the atmosphere, as Harper Lee injects an element of noise to the event; the reader can almost feel the blaring noise produced by the first graders in their minds.
2. What emotional response is provoked in the reader by this element? Which words or phrases help to provoke this emotional response?
-The emotional response of the reader might be annoyance, humor, and pity. Annoyance must be the product of the emotional response as the modern world today would find it wrong for a teacher to hit a student’s hand when she has done nothing extremely inappropriate. Scout’s line, “Had her conduct been more friendly toward me, I would have felt sorry for her.” (22). Harper Lee purposely applies this line to make the readers feel a certain annoyance towards Miss Caroline because of the way she treated Scout. Humor was also emotionally felt as the class “exploded again” with “a storm of laughter” that “broke loose”. The image of Scout being beaten is somewhat a comical picture that can be seen by the readers as well as felt emotionally. However, the readers felt pity for Scout, as she didn’t deserve such punishment-- after all, she didn’t do anything wrong.
3. How does this element help build the characters? Which particular words or phrases help to build the characters?
-This element help build the characters, especially Scout. Somehow, the image of her standing in front of the class on the first day of school and get beaten and punished shows one of the stepping stones of her life; of growing up. Throughout the book, she matures and this depicts the very first sign of her maturity. This also teaches her a lesson on how life is unfair. Scout is a brave girl, as the readers can see, but ends up being punished because she stood up for Walter Cunningham. “The class looked at me in puzzlement.”(22). Confused, this first grader knows nothing and can only accept the fact of how she was treated. “Had her conduct been more friendly toward me, I would have felt sorry for her.” (22). Scout is forgiving, but the fact that Miss Caroline approached her this way on the very first day of school, she couldn’t help but get mad.

Character Profile:
From the previous chapter, readers are already introduced to Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Scout (Jean Louise Finch). Dill, is mentioned in the chapter previously and is briefly talked about in the first sentence of the chapter. Calpurnia was also mentioned in the chapter by Scout. The two new characters in the chapter includes Miss. Caroline Fisher and Walter Cunningham.

Characters by appearance:

Dill: Also known as Charles Baker Harris, is Jem & Scout’s summer neighbor. In Chapter 2, he lives early in September back to Meridian, his hometown. Scout was “miserable without him” () as Dill was a friendly, full of zest, and fun-to-be-around-with boy.
Jem: In Chapter 2, readers come to know that Jem was a good elder brother to Scout, though like any other children, older siblings would not want their younger siblings coming up to them to embarrass them in any sort of way. In the chapter, he comforts Scout during break by talking it through after Miss. Caroline Fisher snaps at her and tells her to stop telling Atticus to teach her. Jem is a symbol of maturity throughout the book.
Scout: This chapter shows how brave and intelligent Scout is; her reactions to the teacher, standing up for Walter Cunningham, her ability to read perfectly, and how she is able to write in cursive. This is Scout’s characterization, and throughout the book Scout will develop and mature into someone even greater.
Miss Caroline Fisher: Throughout the chapter, Scout’s first grade teacher is illustrated to be a person who is not very good at handling children. She is newly introduced character. She is young, only 21 years old, and comes from North Alabama. Described as having “auburn hair, pink cheeks, and wore crimson fingernail polish.” “She also wore high-heeled pumps and a red-and-white-striped dress. She smelled like a peppermint drop.” Scout describes her as “a pretty little thing”. However, her physical appearance is no match with her actions. Unlike other teachers, instead of congratulating their student when they’re able to read and is literate, she was unpleased by Scout’s ability by telling her she can’t read with Atticus anymore because she doesn’t know how to teach. She whips Scout on the hand with a ruler and punishes her by telling her to stand in the corner because she misunderstands Scout. At the end of the chapter, she was overwhelmed.
Calpurnia: As indirectly mentioned in Chapter 1, Calpurnia is a dark-colored woman who helps around the house, and acts like a mother to the children. During rainy days, she teaches Scout how to write.
Walter Cunningham: A newly introduced character as well, he is the son of a local farmer. He comes from a poor family who pays debts with their crops. When he had no money for lunch, Miss Caroline lends him a quarter but he rejects as he can’t pay back. He has hookworms from working in the field barefoot as he has no shoes, but he wore “a clean shirt and neatly mended overalls”.


PHOTO BANK OF CHAPTER 2:
Meridian- “Dill left us early in September, to return to Meridian.” (15)
Located at the center of East Mississippi and West Alabama.


2 Power Telescope: used by Scout to view the school yard
“Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope..”(15).




NORTH ALABAMA-
“Miss Caroline printed her name on the blackboard and said, ‘This says I am Miss Caroline Fisher. I am from North Alabama, from Winston County.’”(16)




Auburn Hair: Reddish-brown colored hair
“Miss Caroline was no more than twenty-one. She had bright auburn hair...”(16)


Crimson Nail Polish: “Miss Caroline...wore crimson fingernail polish.”(16)


Classrooms in Alabama:

Catawba Worms: “..the class was wriggling like a bucketful of catawba worms” (16).

Flour-sack skirts: “..unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted and floursack-skirted first grade..” (16)


THE MOBILE REGISTER: Local Newspaper in Alabama
“and after making me read...and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud,..”(17)


Union suit: A union suit is a type of one-piece long underwear. Created in Utica, New York, United States, it originated as women's wear during the 19th-century (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_suit)
“...reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking...”(17)


DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM: 'Dewey Decimal Classification', (also called the 'Dewey Decimal System') is a proprietary system of library classification developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876. (From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification)
“I’m just trying to tell you the new way they’re teachin’ the first grade, stubborn. It’s the Dewey Decimal System.”(18)


Molasses: Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. (From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses)
“Molasses buckets appeared from nowhere...”(19)


Hookworms: The hookwormis a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. (From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm)
“Walter Cunningham’s face told everybody in the first grade he had hookworms.”(19)


Hog wallows: “People caught hookworms going barefooted in hog wallows.”(19)

Hickory Nuts:
“Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps.” (20)


Smilax and holly:
“With Christmas came a crate of smilax and holly.” (21)

Crokersack: chiefly Southern. : a sack of a coarse material (From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
“That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip greens.” (21)


Turnip Greens: Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten as "turnip greens" ("turnip tops" in the UK), and they resemble mustard greens in flavor. (From Wikpedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnip)
“That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip greens.”(21)


Vocabulary (Chapter 2)

1. Multitudes - A large number "...spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope.."

2. Transaction - An instance of buying or selling something "I think some money changed hands in this transaction.."
3. Enact - Make law " I was not to approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant men....."
4. Seceded - With draw formally from membership in a Federal Union, an alliance, or political or religious organization "When Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11,1861..."
5. Literate - Able to read and write "... she discovered I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste."
6. Impressionistic - Based on subjective reactions presented unsystematically "No comment seemed to be expected of us, and the class received impressionistic relations in silence."
7. Sentimentality - Excessive tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia "In Calpurnia's teaching, there was no sentimentality."
8. Drawled - Speak in a slow, lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds. "Nome thank you ma'am, he drawled softly"
9. Conferred - Grant or bestow. "Miss Caroline and I had conferred twice already, and they were..."
10. Entailment - A settlement of property. "When I asked Jem what entailment was, and Jem described it as..."
11. Mortification - To feel embarrassed, ashamed or humiliation. "...and Miss Caroline subsequent mortification, but it was beyond my ability..."
12. Uninitiated - Without special knowledge or experience. "...as yet uninitiated the door hands on hips and announced..."

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